Written by Rachel Hansen.

The term “woodrat” refers to a small rodent from the genus Neotoma. There are multiple types of species of woodrats living in Mexico, such as N. mexicana or N. alleni (Genoways and Birney 1974), and there are over 25 subspecies as well (Edwards and Bradley 2002). The high number of species and subspecies may come from that woodrats are found in many diverse habitats ranging from mountain forests to arid deserts (Edwards and Bradley 2002; Smith et al. 2006; Ditto and Frey 2007). An interesting thing about woodrats is that their body size is dependent on where they live. In warmer areas like Mexico, the woodrats’ sizes are generally smaller than ones that live in colder places (Smith et al. 2006). But a small woodrat is still a relatively large rodent, such as in the case of the Mexican woodrat species (N. alleni), which has an average length of 17 in. (432.1 mm) for males and 14.5 in (368 mm) for females (Genoways and Birney 1974).

But no matter where the woodrats live, they have some general characteristics. They are solitary, nocturnal herbivores (Hallet 1982; Smith et al. 1993). They build dens made of sticks, cactus plants, rocks and other miscellaneous material (Smith et al 1993). They build these dens in a variety of places such as rock formations, trees, and abandoned human buildings (Smith G. et al. 1995; Smith F. et al. 2006). The most important factor in den building for the woodrats is having vegetation cover nearby, because the cover serves as protection against predators and as a food source. This also means that the destruction of vegetation can drastically impact a Neotoma population such as the extinction of the N. bunkeri Burt woodrat (Smith et al. 1993).

The destruction of their habitat is not the only way humans have affected the woodrat population. They have also introduced predators, such as cats, which the woodrats do not have a natural defense against (Smith et al. 1993). In order to preserve this species, humans must stop destroying their habitats and try to limit the effects of exotic species.



Want to Learn More?

Ditto, A. M. and J. K. Frey. 2007. Effects of ecogeographic variables on genetic variation in montane mammals; implications for conservation in a global warming scenario. Journal of Biogeography 34:1136-1149.

Edwards, C. and R. P. Bradley. 2002. Molecular systematics and historical phylobiogeography of the Neotoma mexicana species group. Journal of Mammalogy 83:20-30.

Genoways, H. and E. Birney. 1974. Neotoma alleni. Mammalian Species 41:1-4.

Hallet, J. 1982. Habitat selection and the community matrix of a desert small-mammal fauna. Ecology 63:1400-1410.

Smith, F., A.Betancourt, and L. Julio. 2006. Predicting woodrat (Neotoma) responses to anthropogenic warming from studies of the palaeomidden record. Journal of Biogeography 33:2061-2076.

Smith, F., B. T. Bestelmeyer, J. Biardi, and M. Strong. 1993. Anthropogenic extinction of the endemic woodrat, Neotoma bunkeri Burt. Biodiversity Letters 1:149-155.

Smith, G., J. L. Betancourt, and J. H. Brown. 1995. Evolution of body size in the woodrat over the past 25,000 years of climate change. Science 270:2012-2014.

White-Throated Woodrat (Neotoma albigula). The Mammals of Texas-Online Edition. Texas Tech University. Texas USA. Available from http://www.nsrl.ttu.edu/TMOT1/copyrigh.htm (Assessed October 2009).

Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World

Freshwater Ecoregions of the World

Marine Ecoregions of the World







This page was created from an environmental education writing project generated in the Fall 2009 Bio245 Conservation Biology class. Content does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Gustavus Adolphus College.

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